Pro Arte Orchestra

The Pro Arte Orchestra was founded as a limited company chaired by the double-bass player Eugene Cruft; directors also included Archie Camden and Antony English. The initial aim was to perform "the finest of the lighter classics in orchestral music".[1] The first concert was given at the Royal Festival Hall on 21 October 1955 with a Rossini overture, Schubert's Unfinished, Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole and works by Strauss and Chabrier, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent.[1] Much of the work of the orchestra, however, was in the recording studio, particularly for the Pye-Nixa label.

In the early years other players in the orchestra included Cecil Aronowitz, Francisco Gabarró, Richard Adeney, Peter Graeme, Gervase de Peyer, Raymond Cohen and Alan Civil.[1] The last London performance advertised by the orchestra was in 1970.[2]

• Albinoni, Marcello, Cimarosa: Oboe concertos (Evelyn Rothwell)
• Arnell: The Great Detective – ballet suite
• Bach: Concerto for four harpsichords, Clavier Concertos 1 and 5 Mindru Katz
• Beethoven: Violin Concerto (Igor Oistrakh)
• Coates: Cinderella, London Bridge, The Enchanted Garden, By The Sleepy Lagoon, Footlights
• Gay: The Beggar's Opera
• Handel: Music For The Royal Fireworks, Concerto a due cori in F Major (No. 2)
• Herrmann: Wuthering Heights
• Janáček: Sinfonietta and opera preludes
• Piccinni: La Cecchina, ossia La buona figliuola
• Rawsthorne: Madame Chrysanthème – Ballet Suite, Street Corner Overture
• Sullivan-Mackerras: Pineapple Poll
• Sullivan: Iolanthe, The Gondoliers, The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, Patience, Ruddigore and The Yeomen of the Guard; overtures Cox & Box, The Sorcerer and Princess Ida.

Victor Hely-Hutchinson - Carol Symphony (1966)